The single-parent allowance and the exemption of the right of usufruct from beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income were discussed on Tuesday by the Parliamentary Labor Committee.
With reference to the single-parent allowance, a law proposal was submitted by AKEL MPs Andreas Kavkalias, Christos Christofias and Giorgos Koukoumas regarding the amendment of the Law on the Provision of Child Allowance, so as to remove from the definition of the term “single-parent family” the requirement that one parent be without cohabitation and, on the other hand, that the right to a single-parent family allowance is not terminated, in the event that the single parent cohabits with another person.
In relation to the exception of the right of usufruct from beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income, a law proposal was submitted by the MPs of the DIPA – Cooperation Alekos Trifonidis and Marinos Mousiouttas to amend the Minimum Guaranteed Income and Social Benefits Law in general, so that real estate, which the whole or the greater part of it is not usable, due to the registration of a usufruct in the books of the Department of Cadastre and Land Surveying, regardless of the value of the property in question and the time when said registration took place, not to be taken into account when calculating the total value immovable property that can be owned by a person or another member of his family unit, in order to be entitled to a minimum guaranteed income.
In statements after the Committee session, the Parliamentary Representative of DIPA – Cooperation Alekos Tryfonidis said that regarding the exemption of the right of usufruct from beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income, that the proposal concerns “the correction of a distortion of the legislation that affects too many beneficiaries in whose benefits are terminated, either because of ignorance or because of good intentions – many grandparents usually transfer real estate to their grandchildren, wanting to help them and secure their future”.
He added that our proposal this it will concern the people who receive real estate and not those who grant it, so as to ensure any exploitation of the system by the astute.
“With our proposal, we want the usufruct not to be counted in the beneficiary's family income and thus cut off either the disability benefit or the minimum guaranteed income from our fellow citizens in need”, he said and added that “at the same time, we do not want to this proposal to be exploited by astute people and to transfer any property to other relatives in order to apply for an allowance from the state”.
He referred to a positive approach to the proposal of the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and the Director of Services Allowances and in the position of the Land Registry that it will see the matter positively and that the state services in cooperation with the Commission “will study the matter so that with the resumption of the works of the Parliament there will be a comprehensive proposal which is also constitutionally sound, that is, not to increase the state budget”.
Regarding the single-parent allowance, Mr. Tryfonidis said that there is “distortion because in cases of cohabitation the incomes of the cohabitant are also calculated”. .
